Heart's Delight
by genericbadguy
Summary: Severus Snape is forced to show how he feels about his fellow Professor; one Miss Hermione Granger. How will she respond? A/U, a little OOC and Snape lives because I want him to.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter**

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Chapter 1

Severus Snape rattled the chains that held him by his wrist against the cell wall and glared at the wooden door as if his acid stare could melt it into a trembling puddle of insecurities. Arithmacy professor Hermione Granger suppressed a sigh and looked at her own set of chains. Really she had completed apprenticeships in Charms, Arithmacy and Transfiguration but while they couldn't stop her from taking every NEWT possible and could only limit her to three specializations, they did not let her teach more than one class. She pouted with all the grace that she thought she could muster and only for a solid week.

A point that Snape continually sneered at her about, but he soon learned that if he made even the most snide comment to her, he was opening himself up to conversation. And she had just so many things to talk about with him concerning her casual potion's study.

She knew that she was an incurable swot. She saw the way that some people's eyes glazed over when she got talking and she really did try to dial it back for those. But it was really hard to reign her enthusiasm in when Snape's sharp black eyes never missed a thing she said. She never had to stop and explain anything and he responded. Actually gave her intelligent and challenging responses; and that was just so damn addictive.

"The charms on these chains are really quite intricate." She said wishing that she didn't sound like an idiot.

"That's because Granger," her never called her anything else "they were hand crafted over a hundred years ago to keep even the most powerful wizards at bay." He said through clenched teeth and not looking at her. Hermione nodded.

"I wonder why Bellatrix tortured me in the drawing room and not here then."

Snape shifted on the ground and the chains rattled once more.

"I was under the impression that Narcissa sealed this part of the basement off soon after her marriage. She never really had a predilection for… these things."

Hermione nodded again.

"How are they all by the way? I heard they moved to France."

"Granger-" he growled.

"You can't do a damn thing right now, Severus. So stop grinding your teeth and talk to me so can forget how utterly terrified I am!"

They scowled at each other from across the dim room until Snape finally looked away and tsked.

"You wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't insisted on going with me to Hogsmead." He said tightly.

"Yes. And if you hadn't pushed me out of the way of that curse and gotten hit instead, you wouldn't have been captured either. So my fault. Fine."

His mouth pressed into a thin line.

"I'm sure you would have been able to defend yourself if I had not fallen on top of you." He said quietly.

"Hmm. Well thanks for that."

They avoided looking at each other as the silence stretched out between them.

"Soooo. Left over Death Eater?" she asked.

"Most likely."

"Angry at me for being one of the Golden trio or you for surviving the snake bite?"

"Does it matter? He got two for the price for one." He spat at her. Hermione took a deep breath and tried not to grit her own teeth. Severus' scowl deepened and he looked like he was about to say something when they heard the door begin to open.

A man in Death Eater robes stood in the doorway and smirked at Snape.

"Hello traitor." He said. Severus looked at the man for a solid thirty seconds.

"I have no idea who you are." He said flatly. The man bristled as his face turned red.

"I am one of the Dark Lord's true faithful and-"

"The dead Dark Lord."

"HE WILL RISE AGAIN!"

Snape snorted and Granger tried her hardest not to giggle. But she did and as soon as her choked chortle made it past her lips the man rounded on her.

"You shut-up, you mudblood whore!" he said grabbing her by the front of her robes and shaking her.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Snape bellowed and they both froze. That man could really make one stop and pay attention when he used his teacher voice like that. The man recovered after a second but did not stand from where he was bending over her nor did he let go of her clothes. He just looked over at Snape who was straining forward against his chains and glaring at him. The man smirked and squatted down on his heels.

"You know I never believed Severus Snape actually fought for your side." He said casually addressing Hermione. "Oh I know he betrayed the Dark Lord but I know that who he is never really changed." He unclenched his fist from the fabric and brought his other hand up to unbutton the first button. Hermione felt her stomach drop as he didn't stop there. She heard the Snape yank at his restraints again but the man kept talking as he undid her outer robes.

"I don't know how he convinced everyone that he was good." He parted the now open robes, revealing the muggle outfit she wore underneath and stared unabashedly at her breasts. Hermione wished she could press herself into the wall and disappear or throw up. Or throw up all over the man in front of her and then escape through the wall. The man dropped his hands and looked up at her face.

"But a leopard can't change his spots." He stood up and turned towards Snape and she could breath again as a couple tears slipped out of her eyes. The man kneeled into the middle of the cell and began to take potion bottles out of his robes and lay them out. He displayed them in front of them like a kid on the playground showing off his toys. Toys that he wanted you to see but wasn't going to let you play with. Snape hissed and some of the items and Hermione assumed they were dark potions but the only one she recognized was the one he was holding up at that moment. The only that swirled in two shades of purple. A lust potion.

"I thought long and hard about a fitting way to punish you Snape." Said the man. "The mudblood was a bonus and I had planned on simply dumping this entire bottle down her throat and waiting for her to have a heart attack from the strain as she tried to satisfy herself on the only men in the room." The man smirked again and the look of murderous rage Hermione saw on Snape's face came in a close second with her renewed terror. Tying for second was her own murderous rage.

"But," said the man "I have a better idea." He picked up a different bottle and Hermione saw Severus' face drain of color in recognition. Silently the man took the stoppers out of both vials and add just a couple of drops to the second potion. Setting it on the ground he sealed the lust potion again and put them all back in his pockets. All except the now laced potion. With a flick of his wand the chains that held Snape to the wall tightened and held him more firmly in place. He tried to kick and jerk his head away but soon enough the man had forced the potion down his throat. Immediately Snape started to make retching noises to force himself to vomit but the man caught on and clamped his hand over Snape's mouth. Anything that came up was forced back down.

Long minutes passed and he stopped struggling and slumped further down the wall.

"What did you do to him?" Hermione demanded in a voice that she wished wasn't shaking. The man laughed.

"It's called laetitia cordis. Remember that when the aurors find you." He tapped Snape's chains with his wand and the manacles popped open. He fell the rest of the way to the ground with a groan and curled into a ball. The man looked at Hermione for a moment then tapped her chains as well but they only got longer.

"That should make things easier." He muttered. She wished that she had something clever to say that would let him know that he hadn't won…even if she was completely useless at the moment and Severus was beginning to shake on the ground.

"I will kill you for hurting him." She said and was partially surprised by how much she meant it. The man laughed as he walked towards the cell door.

"He is not the one you should be worried about." He caught the door with one hand as he walked out and closed it with a click. She stared at the door for a moment then turned her attention back to the man on the floor who was beginning to writhe and make noise.

"Severus?" she called out, moving forward as much as the extended chains would let her. He flinched at the sound of her voice and tried to curl into himself even more, his hands curling into fists in his hair.

"No, no." he muttered "It's not true! I won't believe it!"

Hermione wished she knew what to do. If she could only get his attention maybe he could fight through whatever was happening and tell her how to help.

"Severus?" she called louder. He suddenly scrambled to his feet and made towards the door but his legs wouldn't stay under him and he ended up on his knees with what sounded like a sob. He lifted up his head and she watched as he lost whatever battle he had been fighting and his jaw go slack.

Then he smiled.

Oh, did he smile and the brightness of it transformed his face. Hermione could only describe it as pure joy and looking at it made her chest hurt. Then he turned and looked at her.

"Hermione." He purred and her chest hurt in a whole different way.

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 **A/N: I hoped you liked it so far, this is my first real foray into romance so please tell me what you think. Seriously, reviews mean the world to me and I promise they will help me put up the next chapter. So...review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter.**

 **A/N: Thank you Marriage1988, Luna525, Claire and whoever the "Guest" was for your wonderful reviews! I hope you all enjoy the second chapter.**

 **Warning: There are some aspects of Noncon in this chapter but nothing that will change the rating.**

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"Hermione." He purred and her chest hurt in a whole different way. He moved towards her, his eyes burning into hers and reminding her that whatever laetitia cordis was, it was also laced with one of the most powerful lust potions that could be made. She scramble backwards and held out her arm to somehow keep him back even as he advanced towards her.

"Snape wait!"

He didn't almost batting her hand out of the way he grabbed her by the back of her neck and yanked her against his chest. She turned her face away and tried to turn but his arm wrapped around her back and trapped her in place. Her arms tugged against the chains but they were too far from the wall and she could do nothing. She whimpered as his mouth came down as hers. But even though his arms crushed her, his lips were gentle and pressed softly against her unyielding lips. Slowly he moved his head and kissed the corner of her mouth.

"Severus." She managed to get out. He kissed her cheek and temple.

"Hmm." He started to kiss back down her face as his hands moved into her hair and down her back.

"Severus stop." Her voice seemed to be far away and she felt as if she were shouting from a great distance so that it only came out as a whisper. He was kissing her neck now and she gasped as closed his mouth on the junction of her neck and shoulder.

"Stop!" She finally managed to yell. He paused for a moment and she could feel his breath on her neck.

"…you don't want me to stop…"

"What?! No, listen! Severus this is a potion, please you have to fight- ahh!"

His hands clenched fists pulling her hair and jerking her forward.

"No." his voice was distant and breathy as he came nose to nose with her. Even though her eyes were beginning to water she could see that his were glazed over.

"It's okay Hermione." He said, kissing her again. "Okay. We are married."

"What?!"

"You married me." He said more forcefully. Not like he was telling her though; he was telling himself. "You love me. You don't care who I was and you love me." He was pulling her down to the ground and she truly began to cry. "You married me and we will be together for the rest of our lives."

He was on top of her now, rocking his hips into her and kissing her again.

"I love you Hermione." He whispered into her ear and she sobbed, trying to buck him off.

"No…"

But he pressed his hand onto her hip and held her down.

"We are enjoying our wedding night." He said as if describing the scene. Like he was recreating a fantasy… laetitia cordis suddenly made sense. The heart's delight.

His hand unbuttoned her slacks and began to inch in.

"Waitwaitwaitwait." She begged as she tried to pinch her thighs together "Severus please wait!" His hand stilled.

"What is it, my love?"

Her breaths came in trembling gasps. She had to try to work within the fantasy.

"Can we go slower? Please?"

He chuckled warmly.

"How slow? It's our wedding night, love." He kissed the corner of her eye. "I and don't know how much longer I can wait." To emphasize his point he rocked into her once more and she felt his erection through his pants. Hermione swallowed thickly and tried to think.

Was not going to lose her virginity on a dungeon floor to a man under magical influence. She had to work a way through this.

"But you promised me we would wait, lo- Severus."

He looked confused for a second.

"We did wait."

"No we will wait. You just today asked me to marry you. I said yes. But we are not married yet." She said trying to sound sweet. She had no idea if she could manipulate whatever reality he was living at the moment but she was going to damn well try.

"You agreed to marry me." He said as if going through it.

"Yes. You asked me just today. We went on a picnic next to a stream and you asked me to be your wife. I said yes and you gave me a beautiful ring."

She figured the more she helped him see it, the more likely he would latch onto it. Snape smiled that beautiful smile of his that transformed his face again.

"My mother's ring. I knew you would love it."

Hermione let all the air out of her lungs in relief. But he was kissing her again.

"Then we made love by the stream." He said.

"Actually, we agreed to wait." She said, the last word of her sentence coming out weird as he cupped her breast. "I grew up with muggle parents with old fashioned values."

She hadn't. The Grangers were very forward thinking.

"I've been saving myself for marriage."

She wasn't. But the tentative things she did with Victor and the empassioned kiss with Ron in the midst of battle never really came to much. Both relationships had ended amicably on both sides. She just focused on her studies since then and did not believe that sex was one of those things you did because you felt like it. She believed that it was supposed to be something special. She wanted it to be something special and no one so far had acted like she was special in a romantic way.

"Saving yourself." Snape whispered back almost reverently. "Why wait if we are already committed to each other?"

She knew that it was mostly the potion but she was getting really tired this crap.

"Gods Severus! Is that really all you want?! Will you say anything just to shag me?" she turned her face away from him and wished so very much that she could get away from him as tears leaked out of her eyes.

"Hermione." He said as he gently cupped her face and turned it back. He wiped away her tears and kissed just above each eye.

"You will never be just a shag, you will be my wife. I love you Hermione and I want you so very much." Fresh tears came and ran down the sides of her face and he dutifully wiped those away as well. "But I will wait as long as you want."

She continued to sob and he kept petting her hair and trying to sooth her.

"Can we just lie here together?" he asked "Not doing anything, just holding each other?" Hermione sniffed loudly.

"Okay."

He smiled again and nuzzled into her hair as he shifted to her side and wrapped his arms around her. He tried to bring her arms down to him as well but the chains kept them stuck above her head. His hands brushed across the manacles and he looked up at the in confusion for a second then smiled.

"You wear the oddest jewelry, Hermione." He said teasingly.

"What you don't like them?" she asked, her voice still thick from crying. He frowned.

"To be completely honest with you, love, I hate them. Why don't you take them off?"

"Wish I could, but they seem to be stuck on. Per-perhaps you could use some wandless magic to get them off for me?"

Snape reached up again and took one of the manacles in his hand. Hermione felt magic wash over it but it did not pop open.

"Hermione, did you charm these bracelets to stay on?"

"Uh, yes. A bit."

He laughed.

"Trust you to use an ancient binding charm for getting dressed. I'll need my wand. Now where did I put it?" He searched around them for a couple of minutes before shrugging and turning back to Hermione. His expression when he looked at her made her want to squirm away from him. It was warm and affectionate and it made her feel guilty, like she was tricking him. She cleared her throat.

"Can we sit up, Severus?" she asked.

"Of course. Do you want to lean up against this tree?" he said gesturing to the wall.

"Uh, sure. If you could just help me sit up?"

He did and with some rearranging of her 'bracelets', she was soon snuggled into his lap with him leaning against the 'tree'. He kissed her temple and ran his hand down her leg.

"Tell me what you want at our wedding Hermione."

His hand was coming back up a little too sensually though.

"You behave now." She said moving his hand back to her knee "I will be wearing white on that auspicious day, remember."

He gave a long suffering sigh but smiled at her.

"Shall I wear white as well?"

She snorted.

"I think that your normal black will suffice, though I think that a charcoal cravat would not be out of place."

"I believe I could make that sacrifice."

Hermione found herself smiling at him and thinking that now that she wasn't in danger of being raped, that spending time wrapped Severus Snape's arms was actually quite pleasant.

"And what kind of house shall I build you?" He asked.

"Build?"

"Only the best for you, Hermione. I have quite a bit squirreled away and spending it on starting a life with you sounds like a perfect use for it."

"Severus you don't have to-" His arms tightened around her briefly.

"I will build you the perfect house." He stated and she knew that the potion was enforcing this thought. She looked away from him and hated herself for it but was afraid that he would revert but to the first fantasy if she didn't enforce this one.

Forcing a smile, she said:

"The biggest room has to be the library."

"Well, of course. As long as the second biggest room is the potion's lab."

"Well, of course. And there must be a garden."

"Mmhmm."

"I would want the house to have character though." She said, allowing herself to get carried away with the idea of it.

"And how does a house have character?" He asked beginning to play with her hair.

"Well most houses are set up basically the same way. The kitchen goes in a certain place because that is where kitchens goes, the living room goes in a certain place. Not that I would want a house where all the rooms are in random places." She explained. "But I love houses that have things about them that are different. Non-traditional."

She looked up at Snape and couldn't help but glance at his nose.

"I like things with character." She said softly. The corner of his mouth twitched upwards and she could have sworn that hid cheekbones turned a light shade of pink.

"I like things with character as well." He said pulling a curl down and watching it spring back. "How many bedrooms should I build in our home?" he asked quietly, looking intensely in her eyes. It took Hermione a second to figure out what he was asking with that stare.

"Oh. Um. Uh… I don't know. How many were you thinking?"

He shrugged with one shoulder and looked away with a boyish grin plastered on his face. Hermione never really thought that she would ever use the word 'boyish' to describe Severus Snape but she also never thought he could look so damn charming at the same time.

"Maybe one or two." He said "Or five."

"Five! Severus Snape I hope you plan on inventing a potion that allows for male pregnancy because I hate to think what my hips would look like after five children."

"So you want me to get a fat arse instead?"

"Well you could stand to put on some weight if you want my opinion."

"Hermione love, I couldn't invent a potion that would stop you from giving your opinion."

She smack his chest.

"Ow! Damn your bracelets are heavy. Promise you will never wear those infernal things again."

"Oh, I promise." She muttered.

The two of them sat in silence as Snape slowly circled his thumb on her knee and seemed content to simply look at her.

"S-severus can you tell me what the laetitia cordis potion does exactly?" Hermione asked and held her breath. Snape pulled back a little.

"Where did you hear about that?" He asked cautiously.

"Oh, I was reading a book and it was mentioned in a footnote. I h-haven't researched it myself yet and I thought I would ask you…is it dark?"

"Yes and no." He said frowning. "It is also know as the fantasy curse."

"Figured it was something like that given the Latin, but what does it do exactly?"

"It makes people believe that their deepest fantasy is real and to act on it?" he explained and took a deep breath "But that is not why it is considered dark. Think about it, what if all your dreams came true and hours later you found out it was all a lie? It was originally meant to show the true nature of the one who took it. If their deepest desire was to kill or something horrible then you would be found out and exposed. Unfortunately almost everyone that took it committed suicide afterwards. Either out of shame over what they did or because they tasted pure joy and could not go back to life without it. Hermione, why are you crying, love?"

She could speak though so she just buried her face in his chest as her shoulders shook.

"Shhh. Its okay. It was outlawed a long time ago." He said rocking her back and forth.

"What if it was laced it with a lust potion?" she forced out while still hiding her face from him.

"This is upsetting you-"

She grabbed onto the front of his frockcoat in a tight fist.

"Please tell me."

"…most of the time that resulted in rape. Though it depended on who the potioned person was around. If he was stuck in a room with someone he never fantasized about, generally he just acted like a randy bastard."

"What if he did neither?" she aske finally looking into his eyes and searching for the truth.

"Love can always trump a love or lust potion. Only those truly safe from the laetitia cordi are those that are already in the deepest part of the imbiber's heart."

Hermione slowly brought her hand up to his face and cupped his cheek. He leaned into the contact and she leaned forward kissed him with all the tenderness and feeling that she truly felt. He tried to deepen the kiss but she pulled back.

"It is such a warm and lovely day right now, Severus." She said hand still on his face. "Why don't we take a nap?"

"Are you sleepy?" He asked.

"Well the food you prepared for our picnic was delicious. You should be sleepy too. Why don't you let me sit against the tree and you can rest your head in my lap and sleep without a care in the world?"

She was taking a risk again that she could manipulate the fantasy like this but she needed to. She almost exclaimed success as she watched his eyes grow sleepy and he let them shift positions. Soon he was drifting to sleep as she ran her fingers through his hair. Not that greasy, she thought absently. He just needed better shampoo…

Hermione felt like her heart was on fire as the strength or her conviction overcame her. She would not let this man die. She just needed to figure out how to stop it.

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 **A/N: Please review! Tell me what you liked and maybe what you didn't. I think I can make updating a weekly occurrence, so expect the next chapter in another seven days. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter.**

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Chapter 3

Hermione was not sure how long she sat with Severus sleeping in her lap but soon her attention was drawn to noises outside of the cell door.

The man that had left them in their predicament was true to his promise and eventually Hermione heard the aurors arrive. They were calling out for her and Snape but she was afraid to wake him up. But that was soon solved when an auror she didn't recognize opened the door.

She quickly held up her finger to her lips as her hand hovered protectively over Snape. The auror looked around the cell suspiciously as he approached Hermione with his wand out. He kneeled next to her.

"Miss Granger are you under any spells that you know of?" he asked rotely but thankfully quietly.

"No, but Professor Snape was given an illegal potion. I need you to cast a sleeping spell on him."

The auror hesitated

"Please." She whispered.

"Insomnia." He incanted. "Do you know how to remove the chains?"

"I think all you need is your wand."

It took two tries but soon the manacles fell off and she sighed in relief, rubbing her wrists. The auror levitated Snape off of her and helped her up with his non-wand hand. He glanced down at her clothes and followed his eyes to where her pants were wide open. She hurried to close them and almost frantically tried to smooth over her blouse and hair.

"Miss Granger would you like me get a female auror to be here with you?" he asked as she re-buttoned her robes.

"What? No, no that is okay. I'm okay." The auror hesitated again. "Really." She insisted. The auror nodded and took a mirror out of his pocket and spoke to it.

"I found them. Please come to my location."

Almost immediately she heard feet pounding down the hallway outside the cell and she smiled as Harry and Ron came bursting through the door in their own auror robes. They rushed towards her and crushed her in a very awkward, slightly painful three-way hug.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." She managed through all the cloth and limbs. They stepped back and Ron held he by her shoulders at arms length.

"'Mione I could kiss you right now." He said.

"Uh, can we not?" she said mimicking what he said years ago after she asked him if they could talk about their relationship. Thus effectively letting both of them know that they best end things and remain friends. The golden trio laughed together and Ron dropped his hands.

"But are you really okay, Hermione?" asked Harry after they had stopped laughing. He and Ron glanced at the auror still standing quietly off to the side and he must have given them some sort of sign because they suddenly grew serious.

"We can talk about it later, why don't we get you to St. Mungo's first." Said Harry in his, 'I'm trying to be nonchalant' voice.

"Actually can you just take us back to Hogwarts?" she asked glancing nervously at Snape, asleep and floating the air. "Sev- Professor Snape needs medical attention and, and I really don't think St. Mungo's would be the best place." She twisted her fingers together and looked and them beseechingly.

"What's wrong with Snape?" asked Harry looking back and forth between the potion's master and his friend. Harry never really decided how he felt about the man after he went back to the shrieking shack for a dead hero's body and instead found a live man clutching honey badger anti-venom and gasping for breath in a drying pool of blood.

"Please, guys!" she said feeling herself grow a bit hysterical. "I need to get out of here and I need to get Snape some help and I will explain everything if you just get me to Hogwarts!" she ended up nearly yelling and on the verge of tears. Covering her face with her hands she took deep breaths to get a grip on her emotions.

"Madam Pomfrey is certified to give medical reports to the ministry." She heard Ron tell Harry. Harry must have agreed because next he was asking auror Cray to head back to the office while they took Snape and Hermione to Hogwarts.

"Harry can I have my wand." She asked in a quiet voice as she lowered her hands. Ron tried to subtly cast a detection spell to check her for dark influences and she figured that with more training he just might achieve it someday. She must have come up clean because reached into his pocket and brought out a vinewood and black, ebony like wands out of his robes and she grabbed both before he could stop her.

Soon they were walking into the medi-ward at Hogwarts.

"Poppy!" Hermione called out picking up her speed and walking before Ron and Harry who levitated Snape I front of him. The medi-witch came out of her office.

"Hermione dear! Thanks goodness you are safe. Here, sit on the bed and let me look at you."

"Not yet Poppy, I need you to help Severus first. Can we put him in a private room?"

Poppy kept her questions until the unconscious man was laying on a bed in a room off to the side of the medical ward and spelled into some pajamas.

"Now tell me what is wrong with Severus, dear."

All three of them stared at her and she swallowed uncomfortably.

"You have to promise to keep this to yourselves." She said. The men looked at each other uncertainly and Poppy's face grew tight.

"I know that you have all taken oaths not to hide things that are illegal and could hurt someone, but it is not for me. Its for Severus and his privacy. Please, he did nothing wrong but if it got out he would be miserable."

"If what got out Hermione." She looked at the sleeping man and bit her lip.

"He was given the laetitia cordis potion laced with a lust potion."

The silence grew heavy in the small room and she knew from their expressions that she did not need to explain to the law enforcement and medical professionals what it was and meant.

"He didn't do anything wrong!" she said looking at them and resisting the urge to cry again. She was too damn weepy all day and she was getting sick of it.

"'Mione, what did he do?" asked Ron quietly.

"None of your business Ron! All you need to know is that he is an honorable man."

The red head shifted his feet uncomfortably.

"Actually, we do need to know, Hermione. It's the law and all." He scratched the back of his neck and looked at Harry for help.

"Why don't we go somewhere and talk about it." The boy who lived suggested.

"No. I want to stay with Severus." She said taking a step towards the bed. Poppy was already moving her wand over him.

"He is under a sleeping spell?" She asked not looking up.

"Yes, I wasn't sure how he would react to other people so I convinced him to take a nap and auror Cray cast the spell at my request."

"You interacted with him that much?" she asked, her head snapping up. "How much were you part of the fantasy?"

Hermione swallowed again.

Harry came over and took her by the elbow.

"Why don't we sit down and talk about it?"

They summoned chairs and sat next to his bed. Poppy came and sat right next to her and took her by the hand.

"Just start at the beginning dear."

She told them everything she could remember about the kidnapping and the wannabe Death Eater, eventually getting to the part when he forced the potion down Severus' throat and left.

"I think he was expecting Severus to behave differently than he did. He said that leopards don't change their spots and I think he was expecting him to act like a Death Eater."

She paused and looked at her hands while her friends waited for her to continue.

"He kissed me. Gently. And he told me that he loved me and th-thanked me for marrying him." She cleared her throat and sniffed. She would not cry anymore today. "I was able to shift his focus though and convince him that we weren't married yet and that I wanted to wait. And then we just talked. We sat together and just talked about things until I suggested he take a nap…I wasn't sure when the potion would wear off and I was afraid that…"

Poppy squeezed her hand and smile reassuringly.

"You did the right thing, dear."

Hermione wanted to smile back but couldn't.

"Is he going to be alright?" she asked. Poppy sat up straighter and sighed.

"That will be mostly up to him. We will keep him here and watch him closely, cheering charms and anti-depressant potions have proven to be no help in these situations."

"Would it help if I stay or go?" she asked wishing she could fix everything and terrified that she would cause more problems. Poppy frowned as she thought about it.

"That depends on a case to case basis. But the potion hasn't run its course yet and it would be better for him to be awake when it does. Since you were the focus you should stay until it does. Then it will be up to Severus."

Hermione nodded and got lost in thought. She hardly noticed it when Harry and Ron left, promising to come back when they had a chance or more information.

"Hermione."

She looked up at Madam Pomfry's sad smile and listened as the older woman told her what to do.

She nodded at each point and soon Poppy was canceling the sleeping spell. Snape jerked wake and sat up quickly. He looked around the room in confusion.

"Did something happen?" he asked looking at Hermione. Poppy answered instead.

"You accidentally ingested a potion and are suffer from its effects."

He looked at her with slight derision.

"Madam I hardly think that I would drink a potion without knowing it." The derision was shifting to suspicion. The medi-witch opened her mouth to retort but Hermione cut her off.

"Just because you knew what was in your mouth right away doesn't mean you weren't affected by it." She said dryly. "Stop hassling the woman Severus."

He looked at her again and she saw the corners of his eyes crinkle in a smile that seemed just for her.

"And just how did this potion get in my…mouth?" he asked smirking suggestfully. She almost smirked back, Slytherin bastard was still digging for information and hide it with teasing. She leaned forward and glanced at, madam Pomfrey as if she wasn't sure she should be saying. The nurse had the good sense to pretend she had something to do and leave.

"It was in the wine." She said quietly. He frowned.

"The wine at the picnic. You took the first sip then stopped me from drinking it."

"Someone tried to poison you?!" he said suddenly putting his hand on top of hers.

"Uh… well maybe. You were probably the target. I think I was just collateral damage." That was true enough and he looked like he believed her.

"I don't remember anything about wine. Last thing I knew I was taking a nap."

"You can't remember what happened because of the potion." Another true statement. She really hated the idea of lying to him anymore than necessary. His eyes narrowed.

"Why aren't you telling me which potion it was?" He demanded.

"Well," she huffed, "if only we had a potions master to help us identify it."

"You do have a potions master."

"If only we had potions master that wasn't dumb enough to think he could properly examine a potion while under its effects."

He laughed and pulled her onto the bed with him. Hermione allowed herself to be and willingly cuddled beside him.

"Very well. You win Hermione. How much longer are the effects supposed to last?"

"Not much longer." She said laying her head on his shoulder. "But you are supposed to eat before they do because you might not want to afterwards."

Also true. Poppy had explained that it was hard to get someone to eat when they didn't want to live. He smirked again.

"Will you feed me on my sickbed soon-to-be wife?"

She smacked his chest and he winced a little but still was grinning. He grabbed her wrist and held it to his chest.

"I'm glad you finally got those bracelets off."

Hermione could feel his heart beating steadily under her palm and for a second wished that the potion wouldn't wear off. That she could keep him like he was; happy. But completely drunk off their arses people were happy too. Didn't mean it was good to keep them that way or appropriate to have relationships with them.

"Let's get some food in you." She said sliding out of the bed and moving away from him.

Soon they both had trays of food in front of them but before they could really begin Minerva came in, looking like she had just hopped out of bed. Hermione suddenly realized that it was actually the middle of the night.

"Oh thank goodness you are both alright." She said, hand pressing against her chest. Hermione set her tray down quickly and stood up.

"Has Poppy filled you in?" she asked before the Headmistress could say anything further.

"Hm? Oh yes. Severus are you feeling quite well?" she asked, feigning nonchalance.

"I really am Minerva. I don't see what fuss is. But have you seen Albus? There was something I wanted to tell him."

Both women froze and stared at each other. After a couple of seconds Minerva's face looked like it was about to crumple in but she straightened her face out with pure tartan clad force of will. Hermione did not think that she was doing as well.

"Shall I just go find him?" the older woman asked and hurried out of the room. Hermione did not blame her for fleeing, she might have too but she knew staying was better. Plus, she was not going to cry.

Not anymore. Not because of this. She, like the Gryffindor she was, instead was getting angry. She had to willfully stop her hands from clenching as she thought about the man who had done such a cruel thing to her potions master.

Her's? Funny, she never really thought of Severus that way before.

"Hermione come back to me."

She jumped as she felt his hand touch her cheek and realized that she had sat next to his bed and was staring into space. She smiled at him.

"You should eat." She convinced him to eat his food but that she was full and really didn't need more. But it was actually because she felt like throwing up. The potion was going to where off soon and the anticipation made her stomach clench.

Snape was halfway through his meal when he paused with his fork in the air. Then it fell out of his hand and clattered to the plate and she knew that he was coming back to reality.

The look of horror that enveloped his face made Hermione sit up straighter and her heart beat faster.

"Leave, Miss Granger. Now." He rasped without looking at her. She almost obeyed.

"Severus…" she reached out to touch his hand and he flinched violently, knocking his tray of food and spilling it. Hermione quickly took out her wand and cleaned the mess. Sending the dishes back to the kitchen.

"Give me my wand." He demanded through clenched teeth, still not looking at her.

"I can't yet. And I can't leave you alone. Severus, please. If we could talk-"

"GET OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT! YOU STUPID LITTLE GIRL! GET OUT!"

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 **A/N: You know some people offer hugs, kisses, cookies... for reviews. That is not my style though. How about this: I will be the Generic Bad Guy that has captured Damsel/chapter #4 and has dangled her over an active volcano. You get to be the brave Hero/reader that comes to her rescue wielding your mighty sword/reviews! You swipe at me and I fall back into the volcano with a Wilhelm scream and you ride off into the sunset with #4 at your side. Content until #5 goes and gets herself captured. Deal?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Diaclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter.**

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Chapter 4

He kept yelling at her as she slowly backed up until she was to the wall. But she did not run out of the room nor did she cry. She just stood there with her fists clenched and her jaw set as the tears threatened to spill. He threw back his covers and jumped out of bed.

"I DON'T NEED YOUR PITY! I DON'T WANT IT!"

He flipped over his mattress and threw anything within reach. She jumped as a water glass shattered and when he knocked over the side table. His screams no longer came out as words as he destroyed everything. But in all his rage, he never let anything come flying towards her. His movement slowed and when the room was in ruins, the only sound that Hermione could hear was his ragged breathing.

He fell to his knees and put his head in his hands and Hermione renewed her vow to herself that the mystery Death Eater would die. Stepping forward hesitantly she made her way over to Snape, her wand held loosely in her hand. He lunge for it and she was ready for it. However he was not ready for when she used his proximity to wrap her arms around his chest.

He froze in her hug with his hands hanging in the air, as if afraid to touch her.

"Please let me stay, Severus."

"I hate you." He rasped. "I hate the way you think you know everything. I hate that you won't ever shut-up and listen! And I hate your self satisfied pity that you pretend is compassion."

She bit her lip but didn't let go.

"I don't hate you, Severus."

"Then you are an idiot!" he yelled and pushed her away, standing him up as he did. He paced to the wall and turned around.

"Did you like the sweet man that you saw? HE DOESN'T EXIST! He never will! That man didn't make the mistakes I did!" he seethed.

"That was the fantasy, Miss Granger. That my ghosts did not haunt me and that I could live a life without regret. That I could have a relationship…" he turned his face any for a moment but then looked at her sneering.

"Are you honestly so self-absorbed as to think that my perfect life only involved having you?"

Hermione let the sting of that wash over her and stood up. With a few waves of her wand she straightened the room out.

"You hurt your foot Severus. Please sit down so I can get the glass out."

He growled.

"Leave you little twit and let the nurse do it." He snarled as he shifted slightly off of his bleeding foot.

"Poppy can't right now, so get your arse to the bed before I bind and levitate you there!" She just barely stopped herself from stomping her foot. Taking a deep breath she pointed at the bed and he limped over to it looking like he sucked a lemon. Hermione randomly found herself thinking that he was adorable when he pouted. Pushing those thoughts away she kneeled before his bleeding foot and picked it up. She gently summoned the glass, cleaned it and spelled the flesh shut.

"You make a good point." She said putting his foot down. "I am rather self-absorbed." She looked up at him, but I also know that I was at least part of the fantasy."

Snape pulled his legs up and turned away from her, laying down on the bed.

"And what a laugh that must be for you Granger. The bat of the dungeon has tender feelings for you. You have enough joke material for ages."

"I don't really find almost being raped to be all that funny."

His shoulders tensed but he remained laying on his side turned away from her.

"I won't bother apologizing." He said, "There is nothing that excuses me forcing myself on you. But please," he finally turned and looked at her, agony in every line of his face.

"Please know how sorry I am."

Hermione broke her promise to herself and let a tear slip out. She quickly wiped it away as Snape turned back on his side. She got up and sat on the side of his bed.

"Can we talk about that please?" She asked.

"I won't insult you by denying the charges." His voice was flat and she hated the sound of it. She had preferred his yelling to this.

"Why would I press charges?" She asked, truly confused. He was still then sat up so fast she hardly had time to react.

"Are you really that stupid?!" he hissed, inches from her face. "You were assaulted! Don't tell me that you are one of those twits that somehow think that romance consists of a woman putting up with a man's abuse so that she can be his one and only. Of all people, Granger, I would have never thought that you suffered from internalized misogyny."

Hermione glared at him straight in the eye and kept her back straight.

"You give me some space, Snape." She said through clenched teeth. Oh, he could make her so angry sometimes and he always did it on purpose. Like he was trying to prove a point. Well, he wasn't her teacher anymore.

"Back." She repeated. Emotions flickered across his face but she wasn't looking away and caught glimpses of shame and regret as he moved back on the bed and sat against the headboard. She took a couple deep breaths to calm down and he had the decency to look chagrined.

"As I said," she tried to say evenly "we need to talk about this. We need to talk about all of this and I won't leave until we do."

He stared at his hands for few minutes and she let him.

"Your acclimating me aren't you?"

"…Poppy said it was the best way to help you determine what was part of the fantasy and what wasn't…and that I was the best one to do that."

"Thank you, Miss Granger but fuck you and your pity. Just let me kill myself and end this for everyone."

She wished she could smack him upside the head. She really, really wanted to just smack him and her hand twitched to do it. Oh, what the hell.

She clipped the top of his head with her open palm and he stared at her in shock.

"I care about you Snape! Normal human beings care about each other and I care about you a bit more than I do most others. Pity was never part of it!" her voice was getting louder.

"I am watching you hurt and it hurts me too! I want to help you. Don't call that pity because you can't comprehend complex human emotion you bastard!"

He looked at her as if he were furious and on the verge of tears all at once and Hermione realized that she was doing a horrible job at this. She shouldn't have added that part at the end. Or yelled. Or hit him. Gods, she would make the worst suicide counselor!

It was her turn to look chagrinned.

"I-I'm sorry. Please can we just talk about this decently?" the last word came out as a sob and she covered her mouth with her hand, squeezing her eyes shut to stop herself from crying. She was done with crying. She heard him breath in deeply and hold it for a second.

"Why don't you tell me why you don't want to press charges, Miss Granger." He said calmly.

"Hermione." She said dropping her hand. "Why don't you ever call me Hermione?"

"I hardly think-"

"Please Severus."

"…Hermione. I realize victims often feel shame at what is done to them, but you deserve justice."

"And I will get it Severus. Just not from you."

"Miss- Hermione-"

"No." she put her hand on his and ignored his instinctual jerk backwards. "Its not like you knew you were forcing me. You thought I was willing." He opened his mouth to argue and she cut him off again.

"You were given a lust potion and the evidence that it was effective poked into my leg almost the entire time."

His spots high on his cheekbones turned bright red and him looked at the far wall.

"But even with that, you stopped when I asked you to. You listened."

He looked back at her with fierce scowl.

"I didn't stop on my own. You had to stop me. If you had not been as half as clever as you were and are I would have done even worse things than I did." He said in a hard voice. Hermione could see the disappointment and disgust he had in himself. He was not trying to hide it.

"Yes, I had to manipulate the potion because when I fought against it, it simply reinforced itself and you had no control… besides this is all a moot point. The legal precedent for anything that contains a lust potion clearly states that the if the imbiber has not done so willing then the one who forced the situation is responsible for the rape or assault of the imbiber and the third party victimized."

"Did you just quote that word for word from a legal text?" he asked with almost a smile. She leaned forward and lightly smacked his chest, letting herself smile in his stead.

"That was a paraphrase, thank you very much." She stated bossily. She wasn't going to tell him that she could have quoted it directly of she had wanted to. Snape leaned his head back against the headboard and she watched his Adam's apple bob up and down once as he swallowed. He wanted to accept her version.

"I never touched an unwilling woman." He said quietly, his voice thick. "I thought I had done something reprehensible and, and had enjoyed it…"

"You didn't and I don't blame you. You are not responsible for what happened. You're a victim too." He gasped onto that idea with the visible relief of a condemned man suddenly pardoned.

"And make no mistake." She continued "I am going to make that man pay for violating me and hurting you."

He was not looking at her so he did not see the steely resolution in her eyes when she said it so he simply nodded. Yes, yes, of course. Make him pay. But Hermione knew. She was going to kill the man if it was the last thing she did. Though preferably not, literally, the last thing.

"You know, not everything I said was a lie."

Snape straightened his head and brought his knees closer to his chest.

"And what exactly was not a lie?"

"Everything about the house was honest I guess. And while I am not waiting for marriage exactly, I want something far more permanent then a kiss and confession on a cold stone floor for my first time."

He nodded with an unreadable expression and Hermione bit her lip.

"You have a great smile." She blurted out. He scowled.

"I don't remember that particular lie."

"It wasn't a lie, I just never saw you smile before and it was kind of amazing." His scowl deepened.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that you could witch weekly's smile of the year or anything like that ponce Lockhart. His smile was technically perfect, but even the way that your teeth are-"

"Thanks." He said, scowl getting worse and worse.

"Even with the way your teeth are," she soldiered on "your smile was like looking at the sun. It transformed your face and I thought that it was beautiful…"

The silence stretched out between them. Hermione felt like a fool, you can't just tell a man that he was beautiful. Not even beautiful men liked being called beautiful and she had the temerity to call the bat of the dungeons just that. He was struggling with the fact that a woman had just used a very feminine adjective to describe an aspect of himself. He didn't think he liked it but it was not like she insulted him. Hermione watched as he tried to get angry and just ended up confused and slightly…pleased?

Suddenly Hermione yawned and felt her jaw crack.

"What time is it?" Snape asked.

"Some time in the morning." She said "Why?"

"Have you slept at all?!"

"…no. I guess I have been up for a while now. Maybe Poppy has some Pepper-Up."

"Or you could go to sleep." He said frowning at her.

"I don't want to leave you yet, Severus."

He shifted in his bed and looked uncomfortable.

"You don't need to watch me now. I…feel better…about things."

"Liar."

"Miss Granger!"

"Give me a wand oath."

"What?"

"A wand oath. Wait you'd need your wand for that. Damn, I am tired. An unbreakable vow won't do. The penalty for killing yourself can't be that you'll die…"

"Miss Granger."

"Hermione."

"Hermione. I wasn't lying,"

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Completely. I wasn't lying completely. Talking to you has helped. I don't think I will try anything today…"

"I want your word then Severus. I can trust you word, can't I?"

"Yes."

"…well I'm waiting."

"I give you my word that I will not try to harm myself-"

"Try again, Severus."

He very nearly huffed.

"I give you my word that I will not harm myself."

She motioned for him to continue.

"Or kill myself."

She smiled.

"Today."

And the smile was gone.

"You can't be in charge of my life Hermione."

She sighed. He was right, whether or not he kept living was up to him. She wanted him to live, but she also wanted him to want to live.

"I'll just get Poppy to bring in a cot." She said standing up.

"That is hardly appropriate!"

"Says the man that slept with his head in my lap."

He looked away ashamed and she realized that it was still a bit too soon to make light of it. Quickly she popped her head out the door and soon she had cot, pajamas and a shower and was laying down in the corner. Severus was still pouting with his arms crossed and refusing to look at her.

"Severus." She called out as her eyes began to close. "Wake me up if it becomes too much and you need to talk."

She was falling asleep but she heard his quiet,

"I will."

And she succumbed to it with a smile on her face.

* * *

 **A/N** : **Thank you to everyone that reviewed! I am thinking that I will hold chapter 5 in an abandoned warehouse somewhere. Maybe over a vat of acid or something. I dunno. ONLY YOU CAN SAVE HER! *maniacal laughter* ... *cough***


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter.**

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Chapter 5

Severus did wake her up hours later and she sat on his bed with him as he tried not to hyperventilate. Hermione spoke quietly with and tentatively stroked his back. They both resolutely ignored any tears that Snape might or might not have shed and soon he was tucked under his covers and asleep. Hermione did not remember falling asleep in his bed but that was where she woke up. Her face cuddled against his shoulder and someone tapping her awake. She looked up blearily and saw Harry standing above her. He motioned for her to follow him and she eased out of the bed.

Casting a monitoring spell on the sleeping man she gently closed the door behind her and turned towards her friend and saw Ron standing there as well.

"What did you find?" She asked.

"We actually have something for you to look at." Said Harry. Ron held out a folder.

"It is a list of everyone that was associated with Death Eaters but that we couldn't find a charge that would stick." He said. Hermione sat on a nearby bed and looked through the folder.

"This is him." She said in surprise. The boys took the paper and looked it over.

"Oh, him. Ron you remember this guy right? Walter Pushkin. He tried to join the Death Eaters but didn't pass the initiation."

"Yeah, yeah. We couldn't exactly charge him with failing to do something bad."

"How do you fail joining the Death Eaters?" Hermione asked with a frown.

"It was a group that accepted Crabbe and Goyle Sr.s. who, let's face, were as dumb as their children. What did he do? Trip and spill his drink all over Voldemort's robes?"

"And this is a man that got the drop on you and Snape." Harry pointed out. "That's a scary combination."

"I am still embarrassed by that, Harry. I'm inclined to think that I got lazy and stupid and Snape was too noble."

"That's right. He jumped in front of a curse for you, right?"

"Stop grinning at me like that Ron. After what happened I don't think he'll want anything to do with me."

Ron nudged Harry with his elbow.

"They'd make a cute couple, don'cha think?"

"What?! Eww Ron, he's like your parents age!" Harry responded.

"Naw, mate. He's your parent's age. My parents are ten years older than yours were. Besides, wizards get married to younger witches all the time. Snape is still in his prime."

"Mate. If you ever associate "Snape" the term "prime" ever again, I will blow chunks on your robes."

Ron just laughed and winked at Hermione.

"Boys can we please focus!" She said feeling very flustered.

"Sorry 'Mione." Mumbled Harry. " So this bloke; have we decided that he is an imbecil and just got lucky when capturing you or if he is brilliant and just lucked out with Voldemort?"

Hermione tapped her fingers on the bed.

"Let's not underestimate him." She decided "I want you guys to find everything you can on him though and bring it to me."

"Uh, Hermione." Said Harry uncertainly "You don't work for the ministry. You're a teacher. We can't just bring you into the investigation."

She crossed her arms and glared up at her two best friends.

"Consider this payback for all the times I broke the rules for you. Find a way to keep me in the loop or I will find this information myself."

They both opened their mouths.

"No." She said holding up her hand "Nevermind. By myself seems like a far better option." She snatched the paper out of Harry's hands, quickly memorized everything on it and put it back into the folder which she closed with a snap and handed back to them. "I'm tired, see you guys." She patted them on the shoulders and they watched her walk back into the other room.

"Crap."

"You said it mate, you said it."

Hermione sat in her office chair and read over the paper in her hand while the woman across her desk sat in the chair reserved for students and pursed her red lips in displeasure.

"Well?" Rita Skeeter snapped. Hermione casually looked up from the paper and remained leaning back.

"I like it." She said and passed it back over her desk.

"So glad that I could please you." Snapped the older woman as she snatched the paper up and folded it into her purse.

"Oh Rita, don't be like that. I'm giving you the exclusive scoop."

"And controlling every ounce of information I write! There are so many things I could do with this information and you waste it on, on sentimentality!" The woman looked like this actually caused her physical distress.

"I explained why it has to be this way Rita and you agreed to write it my way."

"But that was before I knew its potential!"

"Rita." Hermione growled in warning. Skeeter threw up her hands in surrender but ran her tongue over her teeth.

"But just woman to woman, I heard from a very reliable source that the laetitia cordis was laced with a lust potion."

"You should get a more reliable source." Hermione deadpanned and Skeeter gave her a look.

"Okay, I know for a fact that it was. This is not for the record; I'm just curious what Snape is like in the sack." Skeeter looked so eager and suddenly felt quite bitter.

"I wouldn't know. He was a gentleman the entire time and we did not have sex." Hermione pretended to busy herself with work on her desk.

"Oh come off it! That is what the lust potion was for. I know you were able to manipulate things but it is practically unheard of that something doesn't. I don't want the juiciest bits, a general overview will suffice."

Hermione threw down her papers in exasperation.

"I'm afraid that you are doomed to be unfilled in this regard." She spat. Both of them were. Skeeter pursed her lips again but her eyes narrowed as if she were trying to puzzle something out. After a moment she looked confused.

"Granger," she said slowly "are you telling me that he resisted the lust potion."

"He did." She said in a clipped voice and picked up the paper again. It was a list of out of date textbooks that Minerva had asked her if she wanted to keep. They were already sitting on her bookshelf and the paper was useless, but she stared at it as if she could figure out the meaning of the universe if she stared at it hard enough. When it became apparent that Skeeter wasn't taking the hint and leaving she dropped her arm I annoyance and was shocked to see the journalists amazed expression.

"When's the wedding?! Can I cover it?!" the woman was nearly jumping out of her seat in excitement.

"Why would I be getting married?" Hermione asked confused and slightly disconcerted. She subtly palmed her wand as she watched the exuberant woman go still once more.

"Do you honestly not know?" Hermione's glare answered that for her and Skeeter sniffed and looked superior "I suppose with an upbringing like yours-"

Hermione let her see that she had her wand in her hand.

"Its something every witch grows up hearing romantic bed-time stories of! Honestly Granger! A man with a love deep enough to resist a lust potion?! It's the stuff of ballads and epic romances! True love-"

"True love?!"

"Yes, true love! And you haven't answered him?"

"Answered what? He hasn't asked a question!"

Skeeter looked at her like she was being intentionally dense. She sat up straighter and got very smug indeed; she was about to teach the great swot herself something she did not know.

"In wizarding tradition, if a wizard makes a grand gesture that reveals the depths of his feelings. Like resisting a lust potion!" she added before Hermione could interject. Her mouth clicked shut and allowed Skeeter to finish.

"It is up to the woman to either accept or reject his feelings. Tell me you did not reject his feelings!"

"He has been recovering from a horrible potion Rita, he has been the one rejecting me." Hermione quickly looked away, realizing that she had accidently revealed too much, but the blond woman was too distracted.

"Not to mention that you saw his hearts desire, his true heart at the same time! Hermione!" The older woman looked truly jealous

"Are you saying that you are literally going to pass up a fairytale romance?!"

Hermione sighed.

"Rita. Leave. Before I banish you." Hermione held up her wand and Skeeter popped up out of her seat and scurried to the door.

"I get to cover the wedding!" she claimed once more before Hermione slammed the door shut after her with a wave of her wand.

Honestly that woman. Epic love indeed! So she hadn't been able to stop thinking about how it felt to have his strong arms hold her close to his body. Or his gentle kisses. Or how he was willing to turn himself in when he thought he had hurt her and how his eyes looked when-

She shook her head. No use think of useless things. He was recovering and he had made it clear that he had no actual intentions towards her. Plus it was time to go to dinner. She got up and pulled on her door but it wouldn't budge. Sighing in a world weary way, she let her forehead fall against it.

She had forgotten. Whenever she slammed her door with magic, it always got stuck. The first time, she ended up stuck in her office for four hours before Snape came to complain about a book that she had borrowed and had to blast the door off.

Oh, well. She thought stepping back and lifting her wand. Nothing for it.

Five minutes later Professor Granger walked into the great hall for dinner.

"Argus!" she called out and hurried over to the caretaker "I seem to have accidentally vanished my office door again." That was the excuse that Snape had made the first time. After he had shattered it with a reducto and vanished the pieces. The caretaker snarled at her and Mrs. Norris in his arms flattened her ears to her head.

"But I can go without until you get around to it." She quickly added. He shambled away from her muttering dark things and she took her seat at the high table next to Snape.

"Hello." She said and he only flicked his eyes up at her. He was back to classes and his full black regalia after a week in the hospital wing and daily visits from a mind healer. Now a month after the incident he still saw someone twice a week.

Hermione saw what little food he had on his plate and mentioned that the roast beef looked particularly delicious today and would he like some more? Of course he would. There. Can't have beef without potatoes though.

Snape dumped about half of what was now on his plate onto Hermione's but she was glad to see that he kept the other half and it was more food than he had originally. Success.

Her eyes drifted to the muggle wrist watch he now wore and resisted the urge to fidget with the one she now wore as well. They were a requirement by the mind healer. Well his was. It restricted certain harmful spells and monitored his health. Nothing detailed, but both Hermione and Madam Pomfrey would be notified if his life was in danger. Or, if he chose, he could just contact Hermione or his mind healer. But that was only if he felt he was in danger of doing something. So far he had not used it to call her.

"Have you been sleeping well?" because he looked tired. Bags under his eyes and everything.

"Yes mother." He sneered at her. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Snape, I can and will sedate you." She threatened. "You need rest and if I have to tie you to your bed…" Snape's cheeks tinged with color and she realized what she was saying. She cleared her throat and gave her dinner plate undue attention.

"…I walk around the castle at night. It helps me…with thoughts." He said after a moment.

"Good." She said shame-faced "Sorry for nagging." He smiled wryly.

"I realize you can't help it. It a long-standing and untreated condition of yours."

She smacked his arm with the back of her hand and she swore she saw the corner of his mouth inch up just a little bit more. That was a win too.

"The article will be published tomorrow." She was disappointed to see her win turn into a frown as he stabbed at his food.

"It is a stupid plan." He said not looking at her.

"We'll see what Harry and Ron have to say about it."

"About the plan that you have already set in motion? The plan that you are forcing us to comply with."

"It's a good plan." He opened his mouth to disagree. "Okay, its an effective plan." He closed his mouth and scowled but didn't say anything. After dinner he followed Hermione to her office and she was surprised to see she had a door. The old squib obviously thought he had something to prove. She opened the door and Harry and Ron were already inside. Hermione hugged them both as Snape stood near the door with his hands behind his back.

"You said you had found something?" Harry asked stepping back from her. Hermione waved her wand and a secret compartment opened up in her bookcase and she pulled out a large bundle of folders. The boys took them with some trepidation and began to look through them.

"Blimey Hermione!" said Ron looking up at her with wide eyes "How in Merlin's wool socks did you get his medical records?!"

She just shrugged enigmatically and took out some lotion from her desk and began to rub it into her hands. Snape had made his way to her desk without anyone noticing and he was looking over Ron's shoulder.

"Never an essay under three feet." He muttered and she blushed but continued to rub in her lotion.

"Is that coconut?" Ron asked suddenly. She froze for a second then looked down at her hands.

"Yes. Well it has coconut oil in it, but I thought I had masked the smell of it well enough."

"Why would you put food in your lotion?" Ron asked confused.

"Coconut oil has many health benefits for your skin and hair." She said resisting the urge to run her hands over her curls.

"Oh, is that what you have done differently?"

Snape cleared his throat loudly.

"If we could get to the point." He said scowling. Hermione glanced at him and wondered if he had noticed the changes she had made as well.

"Sure, sure. But 'Mione, do you have anything to eat? Your lotion made me hungry."

She reached I to her desk again and handed him a box of chocolates.

"Wow, their all coconut. Perfect." He said digging in. She snatched up a couple before he ate them all and popped one in her mouth and looked at Harry. He had been scowling at her for the past couple of minutes.

"Hermione, you did not call us here just to give us your research."

She swallowed her coconut filled chocolate.

"No. We-"

Snape tsked and turned away from her desk, hand still clasped tightly behind his back.

"Okay, I, have come up with a plan to catch Pushkin."

"A dangerous, foolish plan!" Snape nearly yelled spinning back around.

"A plan that is my choice to risk!" she yelled back as she stood up. Ron put his hand on his on Hermione's arm and a spark came from Snape's watch and he dropped his wand. Growling he quickly snatched his wand back off the floor. She had not realized that he had had it out. He would not look at her but her own watch did not alert her, which meant that he had simply attempted a harmful spell. He turned away from her again and seethed at her bookcase.

"What's this plan Hermione?" asked Ron removing his hand.

"Its simple." She said only addressing the two aurors. "He wanted to humiliate and ostracize Severus by making people see who he really is. Pushkin expected him to do something horrible and Death Eater-esque to me under the influence of the potion and then everyone would see what he was really like and kill himself."

"But it didn't work. Snape's alive and tomorrow morning the Daily Prophet will publish an article praising Snape."

"How will that do anything but make him angry?" asked Harry.

"It will push him to try and kidnap me and when he does you guys will be able to track me and catch him."

"I agree with Snape." Said Ron frowning "Too many things could go wrong and we don't even know that is how he will respond."

Harry nodded in agreement.

"We need to stop whatever article there is and come up with something different."

Hermione sat down in her chair and attempted to look sure of herself.

"Its too late to stop the article. Rita Skeeter has already run with it and the ministry can't actively control the press." She took a deep breath, it was time for the big reveal. "And I know how he will react because he told me."

All the men in the room were staring at her and she tried to hide the wild beating of her heart by casually examining her nails on her right hand.

"He has described what he is going to do to me in excruciating detail."

Severus Snape in all of his towering power stalked up to her desk and leaned over her.

"And just how do you know that?" he whispered dangerously. She looked him straight in the eye, not leaning back in the slightest.

"He has been sending me letters."

"What?!" Harry and Ron both yelled and Snape inhaled sharply.

"Threat letters really." She continued "Nothing helpful or traceable but I had let it get out into the wind that I was looking for him and he decided to contact me."

"Why didn't you tell us!" yelled Harry hands balled in angry fists. "Your not an auror! You don't know if it could be traced! Are you really that full of your self!"

Harry continued to rant as Ron was muttering and pacing. Snape just stared at her.

"You had enough to deal with." She said, answering his asked question. His face was thunderous and, and disappointed. She finally looked away from him and stared at her hands once more.

Harry had stopped yelling and was running his hands through his unruly hair. Ron stopped pacing and walked determinedly up to her.

"Hermione, we need those letters." She got up and opened a book on her shelf and took out three envelopes.

Ron snatched them out of her hand and grabbed Harry by his arm and began to drag him out the door.

"Come on, Harry. We have a lot to do before the crap fest tomorrow."

Her door bounced off the wall as they left and closed itself again with a soft click. Leaving her alone in the room with the clearly irate Potions master. She shifted on her and didn't say anything.

Snape took a deep breath and walked over to her and picked up her hand and began to take the watch off her wrist.

"NO!" She yelled and clasped her hand on top of his, stopping his motions. "Please Severus! I'm sorry if you are upset that I didn't tell you. Its not that I don't trust you or think you deserve to know, I just…I just…" she hung her head, realizing that if he decided that she was not worthy of his trust, there was nothing she could do about it.

"I'm sorry." She said as tears spilled from her eyes. He slipped the watch out from under her now slack had and she suppressed a sob. He had his wand out again and he tapped the watched with it and muttered a spell that she did not catch. Then he was reattaching it to her wrist and she looked up at him in bewilderment. She couldn't read his closed off expression but very slowly he brought his other hand up, the one not still holding her hand, and wiped away a tear that was still on her cheek with his thumb. The next second he was striding away, throwing open her door and disappearing down the hallway.

She stood there, staring after him for she didn't know how long. She held out her wrist and looked at the watch; taking out her own wand and casting a diagnostic spell. He had added enchantments to it and they were remarkably similar to the ones on his. Nothing was restricting her spell use, but he would now be able to tell when she was in trouble and she would be able to contact him whenever she wanted.

She wiped her face and laughed, relieved that he didn't hate her and still trusted her.

But that didn't change her plan.

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 **A/N: So, what do you think? Just so you know, this was never going to be a long story and the next chapter will be the last one. The grand finale, where I have revealed my ultimate weapon that I will use to DESTROY THE WORLD! and that I have strapped chapter six to. What will our brave hero do? Only reviews can save the day!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter.**

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Chapter Six

The next morning also coincided with the last day of classes and with all the bustle no one made too much of a fuss at breakfast about the article. Not that too many school children read the newspaper anyway, but Snape only had to endure a few stares of adoration. He even passed her the salt.

Really it was small things like that that told her that, yes, he truly didn't hate her.

"What are you going to do today?" he asked as he cut his sausage into pieces. She looked from him to his plate and until he rolled his eyes and actually put a piece of it into his mouth.

"After Harry drops of the tracking device and emergency portkey and all the children go home, I think that I'll go on a long walk by myself right next to the Forbidden Forest."

Snape stabbed another piece of sausage and if the plates hadn't been charmed he might have broken through his. She wanted explain why she was doing this, she wanted to lay it all out. But she didn't know how he would respond and she could not risk his anger or whatever he would feel until she had accomplished what she set out to do. So she staid silent and Snape took his revenge on his breakfast and eating utensils. Breakfast ended soon enough and Hermione and Snape walked out of the hall together.

Their only real responsibility on the last day was to supervise the children as they left and that meant that you stood around, wished happy summers and occasionally yelled at a rambunctious student to 'knock it off!'

"Severus?" Hermione said pausing by the front doors.

"Hmm?"

"After all this is done, will you go to dinner with me?"

He looked at her sharply.

"Or for drinks, if you prefer." She added quickly. He clasped his hands behind his back and looked out the open doors to where the sun was shining.

"And why would you want to do that, Miss Granger?"

The hope that she had felt that Skeeter might be right shrunk in on itself and she wished that she had never said anything. But she was a Gryffindor and she would stick it out.

"Well, I've always respected and admired you and while it was only recent events that made me see you in a different light, I would like to explore to possibility of a deeper relationship with you."

There. That made her seem mature and not at all like she felt pathetically love-sick whenever she was not around him.

"I think," He began and she prepped her mind so that she wouldn't become visibly upset when he rejected her "I think that would be…more than acceptable."

She stared at him in wonder and when he looked back at her she realized that she hadn't said anything in response.

"So dinner or drinks?" she asked with a smile so big it felt like it would break her face.

"Dinner, I should think." He said clasping his hands behind his back and at that moment, she thought that he looked so dashing that Hermione couldn't help but rock up the tips of her toes and kiss him on the cheek.

His eyes widened in shock as she quickly stepped back.

"'Till then, then." And she turned to hurry away and stopped and turned again. "Sorry, one more question. Could you smell the coconut in my lotion before."

Snape cleared his throat and nodded.

"Can you smell it now?" She stepped closer to him and he stiffened but did not move back.

"N-" he cleared his throat again "No, it does not smell like coconut, but it does smell…pleasant."

She grinned up at him through her eyelashes.

"Oh good. I have to talk to Ron again today and I don't want to make him hungry."

His smirk seemed rather smug as the said goodbye and parted ways.

The students all left and Harry and Ron came and went and soon Hermione found herself wandering out of the school.

She did not head for the forest though, but rather the road to Hogsmead. As she walked she took out a piece of hard candy and popped it into her mouth. Letting it roll around on her tongue as she contemplated her good fortune.

He had said yes to dinner!

It was true that she had never thought of Severus romantically before the 'incident' and she did not believe he had thought of her that way before she was a teacher. He just wasn't that kind of man.

But she allowed herself to indulge in the thought that he had and started to have feelings for her at some point after that fact. It made her feel special and maybe a little giddy that something about herself caught the eye of such an enigmatic man. She smiled to herself and put her empty candy wrapper in her pocket. Her hand brushed up against a fountain pen there and she pulled it out as she walked past the gates and stepped onto the unwarded road beyond them.

It was simple, Harry had explained, now that Arthur Weasley was head of a department called "The Integration of Muggle Artifacts into Wizarding Society", not only was he an extremely happy man, he had also taught everyone he could find about satellites. After Harry fully explained them first though. The pen was a hybrid of technology and magic and while it was very sensitive, it worked brilliantly. All she had to do was twist and pull the cap off as soon as she thought she was in danger and it would activate. Thirty seconds later the top on the pen would disappear, reappear with Ron and Harry and then turn into a portkey to where-ever the bottom of the pen was.

Hermione wished that she had invented it herself.

She continued to walk and soon she felt a presence following her. His first letter to her had simply been to mock her about all the horrible things that he assumed that Snape hid in his deepest fantasies and had done to her under the influence of the potion. In Hermione's opinion, it was not a very good attempt at reverse psychology in order to get her to go running to her auror best friends and the newspapers in order to defame Snape. When that didn't happen the second letter came to her with a much angrier and suggestive tone. The third letter did not seem to prompted by external events, but he sent it and it was full of...promises. Now the presence that had promised to be on her as soon as it found her alone was behind her and she was glad that Walter Pushkin was a man of his word. She was also a woman of her word.

She slipped the still fully intact pen into her pocket and pushed her hard candy into the corner of her mouth, between her teeth and cheek and waited. Pushkin delivered and within minutes Hermione felt arms wrap around her and apparate her away.

The first thing that Hermione noticed was that they were not in a dungeon. Or anywhere in Malfoy manner.

Indeed, when the Malfoys had heard that their old residence had been used as part of the crime, they had sent her the most wonderful series of gift baskets. They had apologized to Snape in person but she guessed that what she did get was progress enough.

Instead she found herself in a bed room and she nearly tsked in distaste at the large bed it featured. She felt the anti-apparition wards click into place and he pushed her forward. She stumbled but had her wand out in a flash.

"Diffindo!"

"Protego!"

Ah, so he was no slouch at this. She spun out of the way of a petrificus and slashed her wand at him.

"Sectumsempra!"

He rolled out of the way and cast a spell Hermione didn't recognize. She threw up a protego but the force push her back and she slammed into the wall. Her head bounced off it and she fell to the floor.

"Expelliarmus!"

She felt her wand rip out of her hand and she cursed herself as an idiot. She should have used a Titan block and it would have stopped her from hitting the wall. She put her hand on it and stood up slowly as her kidnapper pocketed her wand with a sick grin. He stalked towards her but the effect was ruined when he paused to cough.

When he was close enough she stepped in and threw her elbow at him and it connected with his face. Grabbing his shoulder she tried to drive her knee into his gut, or groin, whichever her knee reached really. But he blocked it and used his body weight to push her into the wall again. The air was forced from her body and she slumped once more, giving him the chance to get a hold of her hair and yank her off her feet. He dragged her across the floor as she scrambled to regain her footing but he was taller, weighed more and was stronger. He threw her onto the bed and she immediately tried to roll off the other side and he jumped on top of her, trapping her under his weight. She went after his eyes, driving her thumbs into the sockets. He grabbed her wrists and pinned then to the mattress above her head.

"Well, well mudblood. What is this?" Pushkin said breathing heavily. He pulled up her hand so they could both see her watch the was now flashing red. She hadn't noticed while she was fighting but it was buzzing, letting her know that as the message flashed across its face, Snape was 'extremely distressed'. Given the charms he had placed on hers, she knew that his watch was reacting similarly.

"Is this his suicide watch?" he asked laughing. Hermione thought that was a horrible name for the thing but it had been around for a while and the shmuck that had thought the name was clever was now stinking rich.

"He was following you, you know." He said breathing heavily into her face. He coughed again and she flinched in disgust. "Farther back than I was, obviously not wanting to be seen. But he was too far away to stop me from taking you."

He laughed again and it turned into more coughing.

"I stole you right in front of him!"

Cough, cough.

"Let's see how long he'll cling to life once I return your body, broken and used!"

He squeezed her wrists until she felt like they were going to snap. When she opened her mouth to cry out, he descended on it with his.

He kissed her violently and shoved his tongue into her mouth. It only took a second of working her own tongue and he pulled back. Coughing, he spit the hard candy out and took a deep breath.

"The hell was that?" he asked and coughed again.

"It no wonder you don't recognize the taste." She said looking up at his alarmed face. "Given your severe allergy that is." He tried to pull back from her but she quickly wrapped her legs around his waist and hooked them together behind his back.

"It was the smell I was worried about you recognizing."

Using her well-lotioned hands, she reached up and grabbed the collar of his robes and yanked down hard. She hooked her arm around his neck and trapping his face in the in her hair. Her hair that she deep conditioned in coconut oil.

His breaths were coming in ragged gasps as he struggled to get free, but she had her hooks in. He desperately tired to pull his wand out but he was panicking and she grabbed his hand as he garbled out an accio. The bottle that came flying smashed against the wall next to the bed and she watched with grim satisfaction as the blue anti-histamine potion dribbled down to the floor.

He rolled over in an attempt to get away but she went with him. As soon as he was on his back she hooked her heels into his butt, settled her weight onto his hips and posted her hands wide on each side of his head. This was a hold that Hermione was taught how to get out of. But she didn't think that he had attended any women's self defense classes like she had.

Hi neck and face were now so swollen that she could barely see his eyes. Each breath he drew sounded high and thin and like he was fighting desperately just to draw in one more.

Hermione looked into the slits that his eyes still shined through.

"I told you that I would kill you for hurting him." She quietly, staring intently into his eyes. Ah, yes. She could see it. He understood. Her expression softened and she let him have the last minutes of his life in silence. She sat up when she was sure that he would never move again and covered her face with her hands. She took deep breaths and pushed away feelings that threatened to overcome her like a wave and destroy her against the rocks of the reality of what she did. Another deep breath. In. Out.

She dropped her hands and reached into her pocket. Almost casually she took out the pen, twisted off the top and tossed them both onto the floor. Then she realized that she was still on top of a dead man and gingerly climbed off. She sat on the edge of the bed and straightened her robes. Looking off into nothing with her hands folded neatly in her lap for a stretch, she suddenly began to pat down her hair. She stilled again.

"Okay." She said and took another deep breath. Three men with their wands out and their faces fierce suddenly popped into existence. Hermione wondered if it was a bad thing that she didn't flinch when they appeared.

Severus rushed from their defensive huddle and knelt before her. She absently noted that he wasn't wearing his watch anymore; he must have wanted full range of spell use. He gently took her hands in his.

"Are you hurt?" he asked as he stared at the darkening bruises on her wrists. Harry and Ron were moving around the room and staring at the body.

"My head kind of hurts." Her voice sounded unnaturally high to her "I slammed against the wall. Twice."

He straightened on his knees and reached up.

"May I?" he asked, arms still hovering in the air. She nodded slightly and he threaded his fingers in her hair and lightly prodded the back of her head. It felt nice and she didn't even care that there was probably a spell to determine head trauma.

"Just a goose-egg." He said removing his hands.

"Snape, we need to check the rest of the house." Harry said as Ron moved out the door. Snape waved them away, but he still paused and gave a significant look at the dead man on the bed. The man before her nodded minutely and Harry left with his wand drawn.

For a couple moments he just knelt there holding her hands loosely in his. She already had a plan to feign confusion and say that she did not know that he had been allergic to coconuts. But when she looked into Snape's eye, she knew that at least one more person and read Pushkin's medical records. He looked at the blue potion staining the wall and she knew that he knew. He had probably known her plan the entire time.

Her face crumpled and her shoulders began to shake. He must think that she was a horrible person.

"No, no." he said as if answering her thought. "Shh, shh." He gently pulled her head down and rested it against his chest as she began to weep. He wrapped his arms around her and it felt just as wonderful as she remembered. She wailed louder and he rocked her back and forth.

It took two weeks of dating before Snape didn't flinch whenever Hermione kissed him. And another three months before he actually initiated a kiss himself. She understood he hesitation and she tried desperately to ignore the voice in the back of her head that it was because she killed the last man that kissed her with that kiss. Of course, the official story was that she had been lucky; only Snape knew the truth. But once he started the habit, Hermione was glad that it stuck. He even gave her a small kiss on the cheek after they walked out great hall at breakfast each morning. But only if no one was looking.

"Severus, where are we going?" she asked but she made no move to remove her blindfold.

"Just a little longer." He muttered and tightened his hold on her hand. "Very well."

She gently pushed the fabric up over her forehead and winced as the knot pulled out a couple of hairs. She found herself standing in the shade of a large tree situated right next to stream with a picnic laid out before her. She covered her mouth with her hand and turned to look at Snape with shock and a question in her eyes.

He huffed and turned his head away with a crooked grin.

"I was going to wait until after the meal, but if you've already figured it out…"

He knelt on one knee as he removed a small box from his pocket and opened it. It contained a small and delicate ring that looked older.

"Was it really your mother's?" she nearly whispered. He nodded and looked unsure for a moment.

"I'm not being no presumptuous, am I Hermione?" he asked looking up at her. She answered by leaning over and kissing him full on the lips. She pulled away and was rewarded with one of his rare and beautiful smiles as he put the ring on her finger.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down unto the blanket and on top of her. He deepened the kiss and she pressed her body up into his. Soon they were both breathing heavily but Snape pulled back.

"Hermione?"

"Hmm?" she said leaning up and kissing his neck.

"Are we waiting?"

She lay back on the ground and cupped his face with her hand. He turned his head and kissed her palm.

"No. Not unless you want to Severus."

He leaned down and kissed her tenderly.

"So I can build five extra rooms in the house then?" he asked smiling against her lips. She smacked his chest and pulled him closer.

Fin

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 **A/N: Do you guys want a proper Epilogue? Please review and tell me what you think; this was my first romance story. I always write adventures and fighting instead. Which I might have let slip into this story as well... what did you guys think of the murder? I consider what Hermione did to be murder; she really didn't have to but she killed him. What do you guys think?**

 **Anyway, thank you for reading! I have another story that is not a romance, but I am quite proud of it even though I am told that it is sad. I was going for... well not sad when I wrote it but I guess things happen. I would be honored if you would check it out as well. My next story will be a comedy, though at parts what I have already written is getting a little dark. I obviously can't keep my genres straight but hopefully it all ends well. Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I normally post each week but the tiny epilogue sat in my brain too long and developed a mini-plot and I needed the time to work it out. But here is the "proper" epilogue. Time jump, separate chapter and heading.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter**

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Epilogue

Hermione slipped in the back kitchen door and was not surprised to see Severus sitting at the table with a book in his hands and his feet stretched out under the table. She for years she didn't understand why he enjoyed sitting there to read instead of in any of the chairs in the study, the library or the living room. It wasn't until a year into their marriage that he began to really talk to her about how he felt.

They would make love and afterward sometimes they would lie there, next to each other but always touching in some way and he would tell her things. His voice deep and quiet as he spoke in the dark room that always made her feel as if somber secrets were being entrusted to her. It felt like he was bestowing some sort of honor on her so she would listen and take in everything he told her and hold it close to her heart.

It was on one of those nights that she found out that the kitchen was the only room in the house that his father would not come into unless he was being fed. That was the woman's place and no decent man, like Tobias Snape believed himself to be, would only step foot in such a place unless he was being served. Thus Severus and his mother spent most of their days in the place their husband and father would not seek them out.

The table was always covered with books and crossword puzzles carefully cut out of newspapers and anything that would keep them from having to venture to the rest of the house.

Severus would go out the kitchen door to play and when he came back he would help his mother cook. Wednesdays were "soup" day. When Eileen Snape would lay out the spices and vegetables and to them and say:

"These are the botany leaves and must be ground into a paste. The carrots are lionfish spine. Bisect them like this and cut each half into four equal strips."

And so on, until he had brewed a cheering potion or a shrinking solution. If dinner was a little strange on Wednesdays, Tobias shoveled it into his mouth anyway.

"I'm home." Hermione said quietly, not moving far past the door. He slowly closed his book and set the book on the table with a scowl. Hermione tried not to fidget. Scowling was something that he did like blinking, sometimes that didn't mean that he was upset. She couldn't tell sometimes less he made eye contact.

"I am very happy to see you." He said still not looking at her, "But I am also very pissed at you."

There. He looked at her and it was his angry scowl. She could work with this.

Hermione came to he kitchen properly and sat across from him.

"I know." She said "You are right to be. Could you tell me specifically what part of it your angry about?"

Severus tapped on the cover of his book in an irritated way.

"Well coming home after a two-day trip to simply collect fresh powered bi-horn to find my in-laws taking care of my children because my wife decided to force her best friends to accept her confession for a murder that she got away with."

Hermione looked down at her hands and pinched her lips together. Severus wasn't done.

"The fact that my children continued to wake up in the night crying because mommy was gone and the scary lady from Diagon Alley was going to get them!" he said raising his voice, "And I am a little pissed Hermione, that you, not once! Let me visit you during your imprisonment or trial."

He took a deep breath and turned his head to glare at the wall. Hermione waited until his face softened then waited until he looked at her again. And waited yet more until he spoke again.

"Explain to me what happened at Diagon Alley Hermione. The only versions I know are from my terrified children and from journalists."

Hermione nodded and opened her mouth to speak

It was simple really.

"Mummy, can I get a cauldron cake?" asked Alexandre looking into the shop window with a scowl and all the seriousness of a nobleman contemplating the benefits of going to war. Cauldron cakes were his favorite after all.

"Caaakkk!?" Otho exclaimed, his little eyes going wide as he swung his chubby little head from side to side, looking for the mentioned cake. But Evelyn was taking her job as oldest (she was thirteen and very mature for her age she would have you know) with the same seriousness that her 10-year-old brother was looking at the cakes through the window was and did not let go of her littlest brother's hand.

"I'm sure that mummy wants us to have cauldron cakes until after lunch, Alex." Said Evelyn, looking at something on the ground as if she were completely disinterested in the subject of dessert. But Hermione was not new at the game, she lived with their Father first and though they had all inherited most of his mannerism, coloring and wit, their intelligence came from both of their parents.

"I don't think that anyone needs sweets today. We did have chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast today."

"But mummy!" Evelyn said, her head shooting up "Um… Otho really wants some."

Hermione's four year-old was shaking his head back and forth in a kind of dance and singing the word "cak" over and over again. The child did not need cake, he was so round that she was pretty sure that if he fell over near a hill, he would keep rolling down it. Singing the entire way. His Grandparents really needed to stop spoiling him; it was just that they thought that he was their last grandchild. Hermione had only let Severus build three extra rooms after all.

"Wanting and should have are two different things. Just like politely asking and trying to trick someone into giving are." Hermione gave her daughter a significant look and the girl ducked her head and mumbled an apology.

"I asked mummy." Said Alex looking up at her with eyes that looked just like hers. She smiled and stoked his black but curly hair.

"And I appreciate that, but your sister is also right. No sweets before lunch. Come on now."

Hermione began to herd her children in the right direction when the woman first spoke. "Spoke", however implies that the woman was speaking in a reasonable voice, which she wasn't and everyone turned their heads to see.

"I CAN'T BLOODY-WELL BELIEVE IT!" she said and Hermione looked over only to discover that a red-faced and thick woman was pointing directly at her and her children. "NOT ONLY DO THEY LET MURDERS GO, THEY ARE FREE TO BREED THEIR EVIL SEED AND FILL THE STREETS WITH THEIR RABBLE."

Otho stopped singing and tried to shrink behind his sister, who stood there with her mouth open. Alex subtly slipped his hand into his mother's.

"I CAN BARELY-" The woman took a step forward and Hermione had her wand out in an instant and stepped in-between her children and the woman with a grudge against her husband and, apparently, his children.

The woman looked down at Hermione's wand and laughed.

"And what are you going to do with that deary? Hm? You expect me to be afraid of the girl that ran around with two heroes and rode on their success?" she laughed again. "You couldn't even keep yourself from being trapped in a marriage with a Death Eater!"

Hermione thought of all the legal spells that she could perform, but the trouble with having two best friends as aurors, you had to stick with extremely legal. And legal wasn't legal until the woman tried something other than mean words. But the woman had her fill, laughed again, throwing her head back in amusement, and left.

Only then did everyone watching suddenly unfreeze. She picked up Otho as the other two clung to her and tried not to cry in public. Alex was not very successful and everyone one gathering around them noticed. They all said 'shameful' and 'bad form' and 'how dare that woman'. Hermione Granger was a member of the Golden Trio, didn't you know? Here, dear have a cuppa. Would the children like cauldron cakes?

No worries. Her children were darlings.

Hermione was raising them just fine and was probably a right good influence on Snape as well.

No one blamed her for marrying him.

And on and on, while Hermione sat on a bench in silence as strangers gave her children sweets.

"I thought a lot about what was said." Hermione told her husband. "About you, and about me and …" she held out her arms, palms up as if the words she needed were too abstract to vocalize. Severus sighed deeply.

"You wanted to prove something?" he asked quietly and she nodded. Standing up she moved over to the counter and began examining the spice rack, moving to bottles in place to keep her hands moving.

"It didn't matter what really, I just wanted people to understand who I am, who you are. How I don't redeem you somehow." Hermione put her hands on the counter and looked out the window and listened as Severus pushed back his chair and came to stand behind her.

"And to prove that you were a threat." He added. She nodded again. She wanted them all to think twice before someone threatened her children in her presence. If her involvement in the War was not enough for some then now that they all knew, in detail, what she did to those that threatened her loved ones, hopefully they would think twice.

Severus slipped his arms around her waist, drawing her close to his warmth and resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Why else Hermione?"

A tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away.

"Because I guess I can't live with having gotten away with murder." She confessed in a whisper, her voice trembling. Severus kissed her temple and wisely did not say anything. It was her turn to talk now.

"I watched him die Severus. Held him down and looked him in the eyes until he wasn't there anymore. And I lived with that like an unseen ghost standing at my back for too long." More tears fell as her husband slowly rocked her back and forth with his arms wrapped around her.

"I couldn't have let you see me Severus because I love you so much and as soon as you held out your hand and told me to come home I would have. And I would have had to continue to live without ever confronting that ghost." He kissed her ear and turned her around in his arms.

"I'm not as strong as you Severus." She said refusing to look at his face. He put his finger under her chin and lifted it up until she looked him in the eyes. Very slowly he leaned in and kissed her. Every muscle that she had been holding taut and rigid relaxed into him with a sigh as he continued to kiss her.

It was over now.

She had lived through what she had needed to and after a ridiculously short and easy-going sentence that the court didn't want to give her for a conviction they wanted to give her even less, she was released and back in her home and in the arms of the love of her life.

And he forgave her.

They pulled back from the kiss and she rested her cheek on his chest, nuzzling into the fabric and breathing in his scent.

"You know," he said "I still expect some sort of restitution for you leaving me like that."

She grinned coyly and looked up at him.

"And what kind of restitution would you like?" she asked. What he asked for as pay-back was always something that she ended up enjoying herself.

"Arthur Weasley says that he can teach me the spells to add on another room to the house."

Hermione looked at him in shock then laughed and smacked his side. He smirked at his acknowledged victory and swooped back in for some more kissing.

"Dad where's the-"

Severus held up his finger in the direction of the kitchen door and continued to snog his wife. Evelyn tsked and Hermione could practically sense the girl rolling her eyes. Mum and dad were being _romantic_. Ugh.

Severus finished and took a step back and turned towards his waiting daughter.

"First of all Evelyn, come and greet your mother."

Hermione held out her arms and the black haired girl ran into them. Kisses and hugs were exchanged until all was made better.

"Now what did you need pretty girl." Hermione asked moving her daughter's thin hair out of her face.

"Oh, I just needed the dittany. Alex tried to make a potion again but Otho thought that throwing things in was fun and-"

"What!"

Severus swept out of the room at top speed.

"…So… how was prison?" the little girl asked casually.

"Sub-par, but what can one expect." They nodded sagely and burst into giggles. Soon Severus came back into the room holding teary eyed and sniveling Otho while Alex followed, shame-faced.

"Minor pop, Only bruises." Severus said as he sat down with his youngest to sooth away the boo-boos. Alex stayed near the door.

Hermione held out her arms.

"Mummy's home." She said but Alex was almost eleven and not a girl. He didn't know if he was still young enough to get hugs from his mum, but he eventually caved. But only for a few seconds! No one on the Hogwarts express come September would ever know!

"I will be making dinner in two hours. I trust both of you can entertain yourselves till them without mayhem?" Severus said raising one eyebrow.

"Yes daddy!"

"Yeth daadee." Repeated Otho although he did not look like he had plans to leave his father's lap for some time. His first two children scampered off and he looked down at his youngest, then up at his wife. And smiled. And it was one of those smiles that made her chest hurt with its beauty.

* * *

 **A/N: So this is the end! I hope that everyone enjoyed it. The story is now complete, though many have told me that they want more. If enough of you want, I might write a sequel, but first I have to develop a plot. I can't stand those stories that go on forever but are filled with nothing, so I have to think up something good first. I have mentioned before, but I am working on a comedy (featuring Snape) and I have already written a serious fic (not featuring Snape... kind of). I hope that you guys like these as well.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello!**

 **I just wanted to inform everyone that enjoyed my story enough to follow it that I have decided to write a companion piece.** **gets the credit for this idea, as I will be writing the story from Snape's perspective. I was a little put off by this idea at first because something in me feels wrong about re-wrapping a story like a pathetic secret Santa present and trying to give it to some one else.**

 **But I am not going to do that. At least I hope not.**

 **I think that what I have in mind and what I have written so far can stand on its own and has a very different tone. Remember I can't keep my genres straight, so while it is still a romance it might get kind of dark and I will be upping the rating to M.**

 **I truly appreciate everyone that has read this story and I hope that you will like this next one. It will be called "Laetitia Cordis".**

 **Sincerly,**

 **genericbadguy**

 **(purposefully missing shots at heros for the good of all mankind since the first stormtrooper donned his useless, shiny, white armor)**


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